Geometric Flux is the solo project of Troy Evason, established DJ and co-founder of Into The Wild Experience. Since emerging onto the scene 5 years ago, he has fine-tuned his skills as an artist and festival promoter.

Hi Troy. To start things off, we have known each other from Cape Town dance floors for quite some time. When was your first psytrance party? What made you decide to start DJing years later?

Hey! My first party was Easter Vortex 2007, I remember being quite young and only stayed in the festival for 1 night, it was pretty overwhelming at first, but I already knew I would be back for more.

The moment I realized I wanted to start playing was in 2013 at the Tree of Life Festival in Turkey, Ace Ventura was doing a 3 hour DJ set on the last day followed by Perfect Stranger, it was the most surreal closing to a festival ever, the crowd were on stage by the end it, backlit by the most magical sunset.

I thought, damn! I need to experience more of these moments, and playing has been just that for me, many epic, unrepeatable moments in time shared with the dance floor.

Why did you decide to further involve yourself in the scene as the co-founder of Into The Wild parties?

It was a natural step I took with a close friend of mine, Max Kibble. We wanted to express our musical tastes, and create a sanctuary of playful abandonment, a safe space to dance in and reconnect with nature, a sensory experience which leaves you feeling refreshed and re-invigorated.

You currently represent X7M Records. How did the connection come about?

The connection was with Bonen (the label head of X7M), from Major 7, who came down to play for us when we were still starting Into the Wild, I think it was our second party ever. He’s a great guy, and I was playing some music from the label already, so it was an easy fit.

Even though I didn’t know most of the guys on the label yet, last year in Universo Paralello we threw it down properly, so I’m happy with the affiliation, it’s a great group of people with some big hearts and even bigger personalities.

What was your biggest take back from Boom Festival this year?

I spent a lot of this last Boom on the Alchemy Circle stage, so I discovered a lot of new unique music, which really blew me away. Guys like Sumiruna, Zen Racoon, Woo York & MNGRM kind of gave me that first day at the psy feeling again, which I haven’t felt in a long time, so to hear tunes that fresh was pretty inspiring.

What could the South African scene learn from festivals abroad?

I think we could be a lot nicer to one another, I’ve never believed you need to step on someone else to get ahead.

In Europe, you can feel that they are only pulling off these ridiculous festival productions because of the collective spirit behind these projects.

How do you aim to take the Into The Wild Experience concept further?

For now the focus is consistency, whether that be in the crowd (which we are very happy with), music, the standard of location, or level of production. We do have plans to change things up a bit next season with a special edition, but we couldn’t be more fulfilled currently with the beautiful respectful crowd that follows the brand and come dance with us regularly.

I think as long as we never lose sight of these fundamentals the possibilities are endless. We will continue to bring likeminded individuals together in natural spaces, and take them on unique sound journeys.

Is there a synergy between being a festival attendee, promoter and DJ?

Yes, there can be. I think you need to first be on the dance floor before you start playing to an audience. So, I still feel connected to the dance floor, often staying on longer at festivals after I’ve already played.

In terms of being a promoter and a DJ, they can go hand in hand at times, already knowing most of the people in the industry, but there can also tension between promoters which leads to perhaps not getting booked, but this is very rare.

You will be performing in Mauritius over NYE. How did that come about?

The connection was Ken-Zo, a very talented psytech producer from Mauritius, who I met through Perfect Stranger at the beginning of the year. He invited me to perform at the same New Years eve event as him, and through my experience when you meet people through good people, usually amazing things come of it, so I’m sure it is going to be an epic island experience.

Do you have any highlight moments of 2018 and any career goals for 2019?

Every time we bring down an incredible act for Into the Wild, and by the end of the trip they are like part of the family, for me that’s always a highlight.

Musically there’s been so much, the year started in Brazil playing on the beaches of Bahia which was pretty epic, just a week ago in Vortex was really special, closing Sprung at the start of the season was a nice one too, as the rain stopped and the sun came out for my set.

Every sunset set really is pure magic, so more of the same for 2019, please!

Thanks for the interview, enjoy NYE in Mauritius!

Thanks for the interview, and all the love over the years! Will see you at Into the Wild on 12 January, and of course at the Psymedia ‘Under The African Sky’ party on 23 February. Looking forward to a deadly start to the year.